Reactivity thermodynamic control

Specific alterations of the relative reactivity due to hydrogen bonding in the transition state or to a cyclic transition state or to electrostatic attraction in quaternary compounds or protonated azines are included below (cf. also Sections II, B, 3 II, B, 5 II, C and II, F). A-Protonation is often reflected in an increase in JS and therefore the relative reactivity can vary with the significance of JS in controlling the reaction rate. Variation can also result from rate determination by the second stage of the SjjAr2 mechanism or from the intervention of thermodynamic control of product formation. Variation in the rate and in the reactivity pattern of polyazanaph-thalenes will result when nucleophilic substitution [Eq. (10)] occurs only on a covalent adduct (408) of the substrate rather than on its aromatic form (400). This covalent addition is prevented by any 4-... 

The surprising selectivity in the formation of 4 and 5 is apparently due to thermodynamic control (rapid equilibration via the 1,3-boratropic shift). Structures 4 and 5 are also the most reactive of those that are present at equilibrium, and consequently reactions with aldehydes are very selective. The homoallylic alcohol products are useful intermediates in stereoselective syntheses of trisubstituted butadienes via acid- or base-catalyzed Peterson eliminations. 

Lubineau and coworkers [18] have shown that glyoxal 8 (Ri = R2 = H), glyoxylic acid 8 (Ri = H, R2 = OH), pyruvic acid 8 (Ri = Me, R2 = OH) and pyruvaldehyde 8 (Ri = H, R2 = Me) give Diels-Alder reactions in water with poor reactive dienes, although these dienophiles are, for the most part, in the hydrated form. Scheme 6.6 illustrates the reactions with (E)-1,3-dimethyl-butadiene. The reaction yields are generally good and the ratio of adducts 9 and 10 reflects the thermodynamic control of the reaction. In organic solvent, the reaction is kinetically controlled and the diastereoselectivity is reversed. 

Dove, P. (1995). Kinetic and thermodynamic controls on silica reactivity in weathering environments. In "Chemical Weathering Rates of Silicate Minerals" (A. F. White and S. L. Brantley, eds), Mineralogical Society of America Washington, DC, Reviews in Mineralogy 31, 235-290. 

The fundamental aspects of the structure and stability of carbanions were discussed in Chapter 6 of Part A. In the present chapter we relate the properties and reactivity of carbanions stabilized by carbonyl and other EWG substituents to their application as nucleophiles in synthesis. As discussed in Section 6.3 of Part A, there is a fundamental relationship between the stabilizing functional group and the acidity of the C-H groups, as illustrated by the pK data summarized in Table 6.7 in Part A. These pK data provide a basis for assessing the stability and reactivity of carbanions. The acidity of the reactant determines which bases can be used for generation of the anion. Another crucial factor is the distinction between kinetic or thermodynamic control of enolate formation by deprotonation (Part A, Section 6.3), which determines the enolate composition. Fundamental mechanisms of Sw2 alkylation reactions of carbanions are discussed in Section 6.5 of Part A. A review of this material may prove helpful. 

Given their extraordinary reactivity, one might assume that o-QMs offer plentiful applications as electrophiles in synthetic chemistry. However, unlike their more stable /tora-quinone methide (p-QM) cousin, the potential of o-QMs remains largely untapped. The reason resides with the propensity of these species to participate in undesired addition of the closest available nucleophile, which can be solvent or the o-QM itself. Methods for o-QM generation have therefore required a combination of low concentrations and high temperatures to mitigate and reverse undesired pathways and enable the redistribution into thermodynamically preferred and desired products. Hence, the principal uses for o-QMs have been as electrophilic heterodienes either in intramolecular cycloaddition reactions with nucleophilic alkenes under thermodynamic control or in intermolecular reactions under thermodynamic control where a large excess of a reactive nucleophile thwarts unwanted side reactions by its sheer vast presence. 

The orbital coefficients obtained from Hiickel calculations predict the terminal position to be the most reactive one, while the AMI model predicts the Cl and C3 positions to be competitive. In polyenes, this is true for the addition of nucleophilic as well as electrophilic radicals, as HOMO and LUMO coefficients are basically identical. Both theoretical methods agree, however, in predicting the Cl position to be considerably more reactive as compared to the C2 position. It must be remembered in this context that FMO-based reactivity predictions are only relevant in kinetically controlled reactions. Under thermodynamic control, the most stable adduct will be formed which, for the case of polyenyl radicals, will most likely be the radical obtained by addition to the C1 position. 

Figure 3.9. A potential energy diagram for a reaction that can occur in two different ways, producing two different products (P), one kinetically and the other thermodynamically controlled. R, reactant TS, transition state RI, reactive intermediate and P (P and Pr), product.

The influence of the classical anomeric effect and quasi-anomeric effect on the reactivity of various radicals has been probed. The isomer distribution for the deu-teriation of radical (48) was found to be selective whereas allylation was non-selective (Scheme 37). The results were explained by invoking a later transition state in the allylation, thus increasing the significance of thermodynamic control in the later reactions. Radical addition to a range of o -(arylsulfonyl)enones has been reported to give unexpected Pummerer rearrangement products (49) (Scheme 38).A mechanism has been postulated proceeding via the boron enolate followed by elimination of EtaBO anion. 

The Knoevenagel reaction consists in the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with active methylene compounds usually performed in the presence of a weakly basic amine (Scheme 29) [116], It is well-known that aldehydes are much more reactive than ketones, and active methylene substrates employed are essentially those bearing two electron-withdrawing groups. Among them, 1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives are particularly common substrates, and substances such as malonates, acetoacetates, acyclic and cyclic 1,3-diketones, Meldrum s acid, barbituric acids, quinines, or 4-hydroxycoumarins are frequently involved. If Z and Z groups are different, the Knoevenagel adduct can be obtained as a mixture of isomers, but the reaction is thermodynamically controlled and the major product is usually the more stable one. 

Quinolones are obtained in the Conrad-Limpach-Knorr synthesis, which is subject to either kinetic or thermodynamic control, when aniline is reacted with a 3-keto ester (Scheme 3.11a). At room temperature the more reactive keto group combines with the aniline nitrogen atom, leading to an enamino ester the kinetic product. Cyclization of this product to a 4-quinolone requires heating at 250 C. 

The orientation and reactivity effects of each group are explained on the basis of resonance and field effects on the stability of the intermediate arenium ion. To understand why we can use this approach, it is necessary to know that in these reactions the product is usually kinetically and not thermodynamically controlled (see p. 214). Some of the reactions are irreversible and the others are usually stopped well before equilibrium is reached. Therefore, which of the three possible intermediates is formed is dependent not on the thermodynamic stability of the products but on the activation energy necessary to form each of the three... 

Formylation of the less reactive phenol and anisole with CO in HF-BF3 was found to require at least stoichiometric amount of the acid for effective transformation (50 equiv. of HF, 2 equiv. of BF3, 50 bar CO, 45°C).445 Conversion increases with increasing reaction time but results in decreasing paralortho ratios suggesting a change from kinetic control to thermodynamic control and the reversibility of formylation. Furthermore, the amount of byproducts (mainly diphenylmethane derivatives) originating from reactions between substrates and products also increases. Additional studies in ionic liquids showed that imidazolium cations with increased chain lengths—for example, l-octyl-3-methylimidazolium salts—are effective in the formylation process. This was attributed to the enhanced solubility of CO in the ionic liquid medium. Tris(dichloromethyl)amine, triformamide, and tris (diformylamino)methane have recently been applied in the formylation of activated aromatic compounds in the presence of triflic acid at low temperature (— 10 to 20°C) albeit yields are moderate.446... 

The text points out that C-l of naphthalene is more reactive than C-2 toward electrophilic aromatic substitution. Thus, of the two possible products of sulfonation, naphthalene-1-sulfonic acid should be formed faster and should be the major product under conditions of kinetic control. Since the problem states that the product under conditions of thermodynamic control is the other isomer, naphthalene-2-sulfonic acid is the major product at elevated temperature. 

Besides the special reactivity of the OH-2, OH-1, and OH-3 groups lies also the classical relative reactivity between the primary and secondary hydroxyl groups. Depending on the reaction conditions and the nature of the electrophilic species, it may be seen that these two types of possible reactivity can direct the reactivity of sucrose. Of course, the product distribution also depends on whether the transformations are kinetically or thermodynamically controlled. For those reactions under kinetic control, if there is enough difference in the rate of the first substitution at the most reactive hydroxyl group and the second one, then the regioselectivity also monitors the degree of substitution. 

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